This blog poses another facet of “To eat or not to eat the apple?”
The Greek word for sin is hamartia. It is defined as missing the mark. An example of this definition is shooting a bow and arrow at the center target of a bullseye marker. Guess another example could be the precision in putting or shooting a basketball in a hoop.
Here are some supporting scriptures concerning sin, the law, and imputation (charging to one’s account):
Rom. 5:13, “(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
Rom. 4:8, “Blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
Psalms 32:2, “Blessed [is] the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit [there is] no guile.”
Rom. 8:1, “[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Heb. 10:2, “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”
Question. What is the purpose of the Law? What does it do? Answer. One thing in particular it does is expose sin for what is really is to those who are not in Christ who break the law. The eighth commandment is “Thou shall not steal.” So, this would tell me if I steal from my neighbor is it wrong. If the law wasn’t there to make me conscious of stealing I wouldn’t know it was stealing.
What did Jesus do with the Law (that makes me aware of this sin) on the cross? Excerpt from “How to make a zombie”: He became sin and a curse for the penalty and punishment of ALL of the law for us. He nailed this penalty to the cross in His flesh. He abolished it. He nullified the power of the Law over us forever!
My righteousness in Christ does not change ever! It is immutable. It is His faith in me by His grace through the revelation of Him. His righteousness does not change in me. It is unconditional by grace. Otherwise Christ died in vain.
Gal. 2:21, “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
According to scripture, Christ is also our righteousness.
My conscience is aware of the righteousness in Him and only Him and by Him. It is purged from the awareness of the judgment and condemnation of sin. It is a pure conscience in Christ. I am no longer aware of the guilt or punishment of sin because of the abolition of the law, Col. 2:14. If the awareness of the punishment or penalty of sin is absent then so is the consciousness of sin because I don’t know what I am being judged for.
Rom. 3:20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”
So, back to “missing the mark.”
This is what Christ has done. He has removed the bullseye.
What!? Paul says it this way in Colossians 2:11, “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”
If I try to hit the bullseye apart from Christ in my self-strength this is a dead work. It is an attempt to justify myself. It is a pat on the back in self-righteousness. Romans says no flesh shall be justified by the law, but the flesh so desperately wants to.
I am under His grace. Christ hit the bullseye directly in its center with perfect accuracy in front of all creation and the universe. Only He could do it. I now have revelation that He did this. The faith of this in me (His faith), of Him hitting the bullseye with perfection justifies me and makes me righteous. He also made the bullseye. He gave the Law to Moses.
Isn’t this what Paul says in Phil. 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:“
My conscience is purged, purified and made perfect in Him. The epistle to the Hebrews and other letters show this. I partake of Christ’s nature and grow in it by faith through grace. In this new nature, I do not desire to do the things I used to do (sin) because of the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me. This is so different than obeying a list of do’s and don’ts.
Obeying a list of do’s and don’ts is dead religion. In my opinion, that is a “feel good” religion based on sensuality and not faith. I feel good therefore I’m okay. It is based on sight and not hope. It is fickle and made of styrofoam. Justification in Christ is not based on tithing, fasting, bible reading, church attendance, witnessing, moving in the gifts, donating to charities, being an ‘overall’ good person, wearing nice clothes, annual salary, or smiling all the time. This is another gospel which really isn’t a gospel at all. Gospel means ‘good news.’ That is not good news.
Leave a Reply